How to make Vow of Poverty better without breaking it?

[sutasafaia]

One of my friends wants to DM, he's willing to work with me on the VoP since I enjoy the flavor of the feat but we aren't sure what we can do with it without accidentally breaking the vow to ludicrous levels. We both know that the feat is pretty bad, especially in a campaign where magic items are generous, so what can we do?

The only idea we had so far was to replace the Vow feats you are granted every couple levels with standard feats (all requirements of the feat would still need to be met, of course) but we weren't sure if that would be too powerful or not. I've done some hunting online but most of the posts simply say to avoid the feat like the plague (unless you're a druid, or sometimes warlock), which makes sense, but we're interested in making it functional in general instead of only for one specific class.

Any ideas?

[Draco_Lord]

If it is a game of Pathfinder, why not use Automatic Bonus Progression for your monk instead? Or for the party in general. It basically removes the shopping list of items you need to stay effective, and just gives it to you as you level up. Lets you play a VoP Monk without the usual harshness of falling far behind.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/other-rules/automatic-bonus-progression

[daremetoidareyo]

Man all but like 4 exalted feats blow. Absolutely swap them for real feats.

You need to talk about holding vs. carrying vs. transporting. Like, can you use a fork? What if you're attacked while using that fork to eat the eyeball from a live goblin (Don't worry, he's evil) or a plate of cheese. Can you use that fork as an improvised weapon after the surprise round? Can you use that goblin eye as a material component?

Seriously, can you wield your clothes as a weapon?

If CG, can you steal from someone trying to kill you, mid combat? What if you steal the cursed dagger of balrog the destroyer which grants a bonus to AC. You don't drop it this round, then you are attacked.

Also ask about grafts, tattoos, and symbionts.

If your DMs answers to these questions work for you, you may proceed onward. If your DM fails this test...consider a druid.

[Cerefel]

I think it could be made noticeably better by being somewhat more lenient about nonmagical items, for a start. Something else to think about is what would make the vow as strong as WBL worth of equipment that the character isn't allowed to have.

EDIT: The vow already covers most of the number differences from items, so concentrating on utility is probably a good plan.

[Ruethgar]

Use the Sculpt Self feat to fill in what you need and perhaps give it a discount or written into VoP.

[Sliver]

I often allow this fix when DMing. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?140428-Vow-of-Poverty-Fix)